Bless this Mess

There are 5 kinds of prayer; Praise, Thanksgiving, Confession/Seeking Forgiveness, Supplication/Seeking help for self, Intercessory/Seeking help for others.

I didn't do an exhaustive search, but I only found one reference to prayers over food in the Old Testament. Found in the books of Moses, of law

Deuteronomy 8
10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

Here we are told to prayer after we eat and give blessings to the lord. We are told to pray and give praise to the lord so that we do not forget him, for the consequence of forgetting the lord is that we shall surely perish. However, reading thru these verses and the fact that we are told to pray after we have eaten, rather then before. I think we are being warned of a human trait to forget the lord when we are no longer in need. We easily forget to pray in praise and thanksgiving. So we are told, when we have eaten and are full and no longer are in need of sustenance, when we are living in a nice house, when we have wealth, then is when we need to make sure to remember the lord.

In the New Testament Christ himself prays (Mark 8:7, Matthew 14:19 and John 6:11) before he breaks bread to feed the multitude of thousands. And his prayer is stated as 'giving thanks'. Also during the Last Supper, Christ also prayed and gave thanks, before the breaking of the bread.

1 Corinthians 11
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

Here the last supper echoes the sayings of Deuteronomy 8, as you take the sacraments you do it in remembrance 'ye do shew the Lord's death till he comes', you proclaim Christ until he returns. Paul keeps the tradition of prayers of thanksgiving during mealtimes in Acts 27:35 (And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.) Or in his first epistle to Timothy 4:4-5 (4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.)

Prayers at meal times are there to train us to remember the lord always. The prayers are less about the meals over which they happen but about our recognization of our place before the Lord, that from him all things flow.

Romans 11:36 (For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen)